A Good Soldier
by Ghiaman
Summary: A companion story to Nightingale's Song. Eric is suspicious of the military and disagrees with the Federation's involvement in the Dominion War. His views are challenged when he must rely on a group of Starfleet Marines for survival.


"Go!" The young marine in the door yelled over the phaser fire.

Eric's fingers flew across the computer console.

The Marine ducked behind the door frame as blue bots of energy flew past. "Go, we're being overrun here!" He shouldered his rifle and returned fire.

Eric tried to ignore what was happing out in the corridor and concentrated on the encryption.

The Marine stood aside as two of his squad mates, an older man and a young female Trill, retreated into the room.

"Keep fire down that p-way, Hayes." The older man said.

"Aye, Major." Hayes responded and fired a volley at the enemy.

The Major turned to the Trill. "Loji, grab the civ. We're moving."

Loji grabbed Eric's arm and yanked him off the console.

"Get off me you stupid jar head!" Eric screamed. "This console controls the whole array. I need to encrypt it or the Jem'Hadar will be able to use the array against the Federation People."

Loji looked to the Major. The Major pulled out his side arm and fired at the console.

Eric flooded with fear as the console blew up. "Are you insane? They can hook up another one and now I can't encrypt it!"

"They won't have the time." The Major told him. "And now you've got no reason to stay, get moving."

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Eric demanded.

Loji grabbed Eric by the arm again. "That's Major Riggs." She explained, and led him out of the room's back door, following Major Riggs.

**********

Riggs led the group out of the complex and to some cover several hundred meters up a rocky ridge. Loji dragged Eric along and Hayes brought up the rear. Eric collapsed gasping against a rock.

"What about Abrek and Darshan?" Hayes asked.

"Had to split up." Riggs said, looking down on the complex. "They were going to head east. We'll meet up to the south once it's done."

"There." Loji pointed. "They made it out."

Two men in Federation field uniforms were running out of the opposite side of the complex. They turned every couple of steps to rife their weapons back at the door they had just bolted from.

"Mind all sides." Eric heard Riggs mutter. Eric pulled himself up to see what was happening. The two men looked to be in the clear. Then figures materialized in front of the men out of mid air.

"The array must have been deactivated. If you had let me finish the encryption the transporter inhibitor field would still be up." Eric cried.

"The field is still up. The Jem'Hadar have shrouds, personal cloaking devices, those soldiers were already outside." Hayes said.

The de-shrouded Jam'Hadar leveled their weapons at Abrek and Darshan and fired.

"They're done. Loji, do it." Riggs commanded.

Loji pulled a hand held device off her belt. She squeezed three times, the device made a clacking sound with each squeeze. Half a second later the complex erupted in fire. The shock wave of the explosion consumed Abrek and Darshan as well as their Jem'Hadar assassins.

"You blew it up?" Eric looked at Major Riggs in shock.

"A little quicker than your encryption, and no way to deactivate the field now." Riggs smiled. He then stood and started up the ridge again. "More horn toads will be coming from the east. Let's get to the other side of the ridge."

Loji grabbed Eric by the arm and pulled him to his feet.

"You blew up your own people." He said to her.

"They were already dead." She said coldly. "If we don't get moving we'll join them."

Eric shut his mouth and followed her. Hayes brought up the rear.

**********

By nightfall the troop had made it over the ridge and located small cave with decent cover. Major Riggs ordered camp set for the night. He sat just outside the mouth of the cave, taking the first watch.

Eric sat in the back of the cave with Loji and Hayes. Loji had built a small pile of rocks and warmed them to a glowing red with her phaser. In the dim light Eric finally got a good look at the face of the girl that had been tasked with protecting him on their flight from the array's control complex. Her brown hair was cut short and showed off the spots of her Trill heritage that ran down either side of her neck and presumably down the rest of her body. Her face was round, but thin. Her eyes were a deep brown, and staring directly at Eric. He looked away, embarrassed at being caught.

Hayes pulled out a flat, circular device that was a little larger than the palm of his hand. "You're human, right?" He asked Eric.

"Yeah, why?" It was the first thing Eric had said since they had started up the ridge.

"My field replicator is programmed for human nutrition. I wanted to make sure my rations wouldn't kill you." Hayes smiled and placed the device on the ground. He pressed a control on the side and a bowl of hot stew materialized. Hayes gave the food to Eric. "You can eat the bowl too, it's hardtack."

"Thanks." Eric mumbled, and began to eat. He hadn't realized how hungry he was. He couldn't remember the last time he ate, not since before the attack began.

"So you're one of the intel analysts?" Hayes, replicating his own meal.

"No, I'm an astronomer." Eric replied.

"Funny thing to have on a listening post."

"MN-1375 is not a listening post." Eric's words brimmed with irritation. "It's a scientific sensor array. It was designed to study subspace until the military commandeered it."

Hayes shrugged. "We're at war. I'm sure the intel your array is collecting is saving lives."

"I was studying the damage our warp drives do to subspace. Do you know how many of our regular space lanes will become un-navigable in the next century?"

Hayes stared blankly at Eric.

Eric sighed, then continued, "Warp fields make micro-ruptures in subspace, spraying tetryons into normal space."

Hayes stared blankly at Eric.

"Tetryon particles disrupt warp travel. The most at risk areas are near our most populous planets. If nothing is done, Earth itself could be inaccessible by warp drive before the century is out. Think of the famine that could result if enough planets experience the same thing. We are in the middle of a crisis that will destroy the Federation and everybody is ignoring it!"

"Stop whining Civ." Loji said from across the pile of warm rocks. "You're complaining the military took your array away from a problem a hundred years down the line. The Dominion is here now."

"Yeah! It's the crocodile closet to the canoe." Hayes added.

"Starfleet created that problem. Liberating Bajor from the Cardassian Union, then conveniently claiming the 'newly discovered' stable wormhole in the Bajoran system, and using that wormhole to enter Dominion territory."

"For the want of a symbiant, you're a wormhole truther? You think Starfleet knew about the wormhole before the Cardassian War?"

"I think it's a valid question that Starfleet has never fully addressed. And why does Starfleet keep the region in constant conflict? First it was the Cardassians, then Bajoran insurgents, then Starflleet sides with Cardassia against the Klingons, and then the Klingon war turns out to be instigated by the Dominion. To top it off, Bajor has rejected Federation membership! Why are we still fighting over that planet?"

Loji's mouth hung slightly open in amazement. "You are a piece of work. I'm going to bed." Eric followed her with his eyes as she stood and walked to the back of the cave.

"They can't defend themselves." Hayes said.

"What?" Eric asked, pulling his attention away from Loji.

"The Bajorans, they don't have the military power to resist the Cardassians or the Dominion. If they don't want to be part of the Federation, they sure don't want to be part of the Cardassian Union or the Dominion. That's why we fight for them, to keep them free."

"The Bajorans are sitting quietly behind the Dominion occupation. How many of them have died to liberate their planet? More than the Federation citizens that have died? No. The Federation has lost more in lives than Bajor could bother to muster in resistance."

Hayes put his now empty dinner bowl down shook his head. "I have to go take the watch. You should get some sleep." He stood up and turned toward the mouth of the cave, then paused. "You can't measure right and wrong in numbers. If it's the right thing to do, you do it."

**********

Eric was awoken by someone shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes and a grin crept across his face at the sight of Loji above him. She looked away from his gaze and forced down a smile.

"It's time to wake up, Eric." She said softly and handed him a silver pouch. "Hydrate, we'll have to cover some ground today."

Eric's back and shoulders cracked as he sat up. Hayes had given him a sleeping mat, but it didn't help much on the hard floor of the cave. He couldn't tell if the soreness in his body came from the sleeping conditions or yesterday's trek. He tore a corner off the pouch and sipped some of the water from inside. The taste was off from what he expected and he reflexively spit a little out. "It's a little slimy." He said.

Loji forced back another grin. "It has a lot of electrolytes in it. It'll help with your muscles recover."

"Hard bed, slimy water, how do you put up with it?" Eric said, forcing down another gulp of water.

She shrugged. "There aren't many luxuries, but what's the alternative?"

"Peace." Eric replied.

"There are only two ways to obtain peace, victory or surrender. I don't think the later is very appealing."

"What about coexistence? There is enough galaxy out there for both sides."

"Only if both sides agree." Loji stared at the ground in silence then looked back to Eric, pushing the thoughts that had kept her silent to the side. "We have to pack up your bedding, we'll be moving soon."

**********

At the mouth of the cave Major Riggs and Hayes were looking across the sandy plain at the base of the ridge. Loji and Eric brought the packs out to them.

"We're going to have to book it south." Major Riggs said as he shouldered his pack. "Jem'Hadar forces have begun landing on the plain."

"Aren't we supposed to be close enough to the line now to be covered by friendly anti-air units?" Loji asked.

"They must be in retreat. We're going to have press hard. We have to out run the Jem'Hadar advance." Riggs looked at Eric. "You up for this?"

"Um…" Eric looked at Loji. She checked the charge on phaser rifle then met his gaze. Eric turned back to Major Riggs. "I can keep up."

"Good. Same order as yesterday." Riggs turned and lead the troop south.

**********

It had been about two hours since they started their walk, or hump as Major Riggs called it. Eric dropped back until he was next to Hayes.

"How far are we going?" Eric whispered.

"Not sure." Hayes replied. "When we set camp last night we estimated that we were fourty kilometers north of the line, but those shuttles full of Jem'Hadar landing on the plain indicate the line has fallen back."

"How far?" Eric asked.

Hayes shrugged. "Our anti-air units have a range of three hundred and fifty kilometers."

Eric's eyes went wide at the distance. "Oh." He said.

"Get down." Hayes commanded as he dropped to a knee.

Eric squatted down quickly then looked to the head of the column where Hayes was pointing. Major Riggs was holding his fist up, indicating a stop.

"On me." Riggs ordered. Loji and Hayes hurried towards their leader. Hayes grabbed Eric and dragged him along.

Riggs pointed down the valley. "The Jem'Hadar have moved closer to the ridge. The sun is high enough now to mask our shadows, but I want to spread out the column. Fifteen meter intervals. We'll move to the other side of the ridge when the cover allows. Move out." Riggs turned and started moving.

Loji turned to Eric. "You understand that Eric? Stay fifteen meters behind me."

"Ok, but why?"

"It's so if they see one of us, hopefully they won't see all of us. If they do see all of us and shoot one, no one else should be taken as collateral damage."

Eric nodded. "I'll just stay fifteen meters back then."

The terrain was tough and rocky. Eric tried to control his breathing. He noticed the stone silence of his companions, apparently unfazed. Their endurance seemed inhuman. When they turned and stated heading up the ridge, Eric began to slow. Eventually he lagged back with Hayes at the rear guard.

"Keep pushing, Eric." Hayes whispered. "We're almost to the top of the ridge. It's all downhill from there."

Eric tried to climb the ridge faster, but stumbled. Hayes caught him and pulled him to his feet.

"Hey, you see that up there?" Hayed nodded his head up the ridge.

Eric looked to see what the marine was motioning towards. Eric saw Loji from behind, climbing over a particularly large rock.

"She thinks you're soft." Hayes said. "Prove her wrong. Keep in position and it'll impress her."

Eric looked at Hayes and found his voice through his labored breath. "Really?"

Hayes shrugged. "She certainly isn't impressed by quitters. What'll it be?"

Eric took a deep breath and started up the steep incline again, eventually working his way back into position. When he had heaved himself over the large rock and had watched Loji climb, he noticed her looking back at him. He wasn't sure, but she might have smiled before looking away. Eric pressed on.

**********

When the troop made it over the ridge the sun was several hours pass its zenith. Major Riggs called for a rest stop. Eric fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He was actually relieved to see Hayes and Loji relaxing their uniforms. The two young marines dropped their packs and opened their field jackets, exposing the familiar Starfleet uniform underneath. Even Major Riggs loosened his collar. Eric could see tow pips of gold and one of black glass lining the Major's inner collar, indicating his rank.

"Good job keeping up, Civ." Loji congratulated Eric. "The trek wasn't easy." She tossed him a silver pouch of water.

Eric smiled. "You're impressed?"

"Oh, yeah." Loji replied. Her sincerity quickly broke into a giggle. Eric frowned.

Major Riggs slapped Eric on the shoulder. "You did do good kid, but even I could hear you and Hayes gabbing like a couple of Sallies on the way up the ridge."

Hayes went bright red in the face.

"Go check on our Dominion friends." Riggs ordered Hayes. "And try to quiet."

The young marine grabbed his rifle and trucked back up to the top of the ridge.

**********

Eric jumped when he heard it, a whine that ended in a sharp crack. By the time he had turned Hayes had already hit the ground and begun rolling down the ridge. The Marine's arms flopped uncontrollably before his body rolled to a stop. His limbs splayed in unnatural directions.

Major Riggs was running to the peak of the ridge. Loji was running to Hayes. Eric sat stupefied with a half empty pouch of water in his hand. He dropped the water and followed Loji to Hayes' side. The young Marine lay life less on his back, his eyes staring blankly at the sky. Eric looked down at Hayes' chest. The Marine's field jacket was still open, and there was a large wet pit where his comm. Badge should have been.

Loji was pulling packs of water, food bars, and whatever else she could find out of the pockets of Hayes field jacket. "Grab his pack." She commanded.

"Is he…?" Eric couldn't finish the sentence.

"He's dead. Go grab his pack and put it on, we have to get moving."

Eric nodded. He stumbled his way back to where they had been sitting, vaguely aware of the sounds of weapons fire a short distance up the ridge. He slipped his arms through the straps and cinched them tight.

Major Riggs came cursing down the ridge and pushed a rifle into Erics hands. Eric looked at it. The grip and part of the stock were smeared with blood. It felt sticky. He looked up.

Loji already had her pack on. Her rifle was slung over her shoulder. She was pulling gauze out of a small med kit and pressing it to Major Rigg's neck.

"What happened?" Eric asked.

"Bastards grazed my neck." Major Riggs barked. "They're still at the bottom of the ridge, but they're on to us. We have to move fast." Loji tied off the gauze and they were off a steady jog. Riggs was at the point and Loji took up the rear guard.

"We need to find cover. The horn toads will be over that ridge in fifteen." Riggs hollered.

"What about those caves? Maybe one has and exit further south." Loji called from the rear.

"They could also all be dead ends." Riggs replied.

"Why not map them with a tricorder?' Eric asked.

"No good, tricorders send out active pulses. The toads would localize us immediately." As Riggs talked Eric noticed the ground vibrating slightly as the Jem'Hadar continued to fire on the ridge above them.

"I can do it passively!" Eric yelled. "Quick, while they're still shooting at us!"

Riggs turned and tossed him a tricorder. Eric flipped it open and quickly modified the sensor parameters, then let it scan for half a minute. "There's a cave in about a hundred meters. Its tunnels head south for forty kilometers."

"What about after forty kilometers?" Riggs asked.

"I don't know, that's the max range I could get passively." Eric said.

"Take point." Riggs commanded as he moved to the side. "Get us to your cave."

Eric ran ahead. The Marines followed.

**********

When they were deep enough into the cave that sunlight stopped following them, Loji slapped a glow strip onto one of the straps of Eric's pack. It gave off a dim green light for a short distance. The limited visibility forced them to a slow walk.

"How did you do that trick with the tricorder?" Riggs asked.

"I turned it into a sonic sensor, a microphone." Eric replied. "The weapons fire from the Jem'Hadar created a lot of vibrations through the ground. I programmed the tricorder to build a map out of the echos of those vibrations."

"And the echoes became too weak to sense after about forty kilometers?" Loji asked.

"Exactly." Eric confirmed.

"So, no updates." Riggs said. "Still, we're better off in here than out there. Hopefully we're not worth the horn toads' effort to chase."

**********

It was a seven hour hike to the end of the map on the tricorder. The trek had gotten steadily more difficult for the first two hours as the passage narrowed and forked. Finally the passage opened into a larger cavern with an underground stream running through it. From that point on it had been comparatively easy. At the end of the map the troop made camp for the evening.

"You're still bleeding." Loji told Riggs as she removed his wound's dressing.

"It's those damned phased polaron weapons they use. They don't let the blood clot." Riggs grimaced as Loji sanitized the wound with medical alcohol before wrapping it with a new dressing.

"Will he be OK?" Eric asked Loji when she finished and came back to the warm pile of stones they had made.

"It'll take a lot better aim to kill me." Riggs bellowed at him.

Loji looked uneasy at Eric. "We just need to get back to our side of the line."

Eric nodded and stared at the glowing rocks. They were quiet for some time, broken only by intermittent sounds of snoring from Major Riggs, who had fallen asleep.

"I can't believe we just left him there." Eric finally said. "What about the 'no man left behind' motto?"

"It means we won't abandon anyone." Loji said. "It means as log as there is a chance of saving one of our own, we'll keep trying. There was no chance of saving Hayes."

"What was his first name?" Eric asked.

"What does it matter?" She asked.

"I don't know. I just…. I've never seen someone die. I just wish I had known him better."

"Andy." She said. "Well, Andrew, but all the messages from his family were addressed to Andy."

"He had a family."

Loji nodded. "A mother and a little brother."

"It's all such a waste." Eric turned when he heard Loji sniffle and saw she was fighting back tears.

"He wouldn't think so." She said quietly.

"Is it him or the relentless propaganda drummed into him about sacrifice and the honor in dying for the Federation?" Eric asked.

"It's not just propaganda. It's what we believe. It's what Hayes believed."

"Does it make it easier to tell yourself that?"

"Death is never easy." She looked away, wiping the tears away as they came. "You act like you value his life more because you would never want him to go into battle. I've been fighting alongside him for months. He was my friend. What it does is make it easier to look down the barrel of a phaser, get a Jem'Hadar in your sights, and squeeze the trigger."

"Don't you wish it would just stop? You could go home. Sleep in a real bed. Drink real water." Eric lowered his voice. "Stop killing."

Loji looked at him again. "Of course I do. I want that more than anything. I want everyone to have that. That's what we're doing here. You said Bajor's freedom wasn't worth the cost in Federation lives. I think a threat to freedom anywhere is a threat to freedom everywhere. If you believe in freedom, it doesn't matter whose your fighting for. It will affect your own."

"Are the Klingons free?" He asked. "They're our allies in this war."

"Crocodile closest to the canoe." Loji smiled. "Hayes would say that. I had to ask him what a crocodile was the first time he used it."

"Were you and him…?" Eric stopped himself. "Never mind."

"You can ask." Loji laughed. "Were we boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"Well, yeah." Eric said hesitantly.

Loji grinned and let Eric squirm in his thoughts a moment longer. "No." She said.

Eric couldn't help but smile back.

"We should sleep." She said. "We have another long day tomorrow."

**********

Eric woke up to find Loji asleep beside him, one of her arms draped across his body. He would have like to stay like that, but he had more pressing needs. He carefully slipped out from under her arm and walked a small way back from where they had come. He then found a suitable rock he could stand behind and answer nature's call. As he went, he thought he heard footsteps. He looked around best he could. No one.

"Loji was that you?" He called.

Loji opened her eyes and sat up. She could see Eric from the waist up behind a rock. "What?" She hollered back.

"Nothing, I just thought I heard someone walking around." Eric replied.

Loji looked over at Major Riggs. He was still asleep. Then Loji heard footsteps. She froze in realization. She reached out and grabbed her rifle. She listened intently, trying to get a sense of it. The trickling noise from behind Eric's rock stopped. Loji picked up on what she was listing for. It was directly between her and Eric. She jumped to feet and sprinted forward, head down.

"What the heck?" Eric cried as she rushed towards him. She suddenly stopped as if hitting a wall. Then a Jem'Hadar soldier materialized out of thin air. The massive figure went tumbling forward. Loji had landed her shoulder square in its back. Her momentum carried her forward after the soldier.

"Eric, down!" The command came from Major Riggs, he was up to one knee, his rifle pointed down the cavern. Eric dove for the floor. A brilliant beam of phaser fire lanced out from Riggs' weapon. The beam swept across the cave about waist high. Eric saw two more Jem'Hadar un-shroud a second before vaporizing from the deadly power of Riggs' phaser rifle.

Loji was wrestling with Jem'Hadar she had knocked over. Both had dropped their weapons.

"Help her!" Riggs hollered, struggling to his feet.

The Jem'Hadar rolled her to her back and straddled her hips. Eric picked up Loji's phaser rifle that had landed at his feet. Loji threw a punch with her right hand, the Jem'Hadar caught her arm and forced it to the ground. Eric raised the rifle.

"Get off of her!" Eric yelled, his voice shaking.

The Jem'Hadar looked directly at Eric and smiled. Eric was paralyzed by the soldier's hateful stare. The Jem'Hadar drew his knife.

"Shoot him!" Major Riggs commanded.

"Eric, help me!" Loji pleaded.

Eric closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. When he opened them again the Jem'Hadar was gone, vaporized. He dropped the rifle and ran to Loji's side. Blood was flowing quickly out of one side of her neck. The Jem'Hadar's blood covered knofe lay on the ground beside her.

"Oh no." Eric cried. He ripped a sleeve from his shirt and put pressure on the wound.

"That bad?" Loji asked.

"Loji, I'm so sorry."

"You did good. You got him." She smiled weakly.

Major Riggs appeared beside them with a medkit and inspected the wound. "It's deep, pierced the jugular." He put pressure back on the wound.

"You're very pale, Major." Loji said.

"Don't worry about me. This will pinch a bit." He tied Eric's bloody sleeve tightly to the girl's neck.

"Eric." She turned to him. "When we met, I thought you were a total ass."

"I'm sorry." He said, fighting back tears.

"No, I was wrong. You're very sweet." She reached up and caressed the side of his face. "And you're cute. I wish the galaxy was like you see it. I would like to live there. I would like it if you could go back to studying the stars. And maybe you could take me on a date."

Eric looked desperately at Major Riggs. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Keep her comfortable. I'll give you two some time." The Major patted Loji on the soldier and walked to the other side of the cavern.

"I'm getting very tired." Loji said. "Doesn't make sense, I slept very well last night." She smiled weakly.

"Stay awake. We'll get you help. We'll figure something out." Eric sobbed.

"Please don't cry." She said.

"I can't help it. I don't want you to go."

Loji looked into his eyes. "Kiss me."

Eric leaned down and gently pressed his lips to hers. She tenderly pressed back. She stopped pressing. Eric sat up and looked down at her. Loji was gone. He didn't move until Major Riggs over with two packs.

"Grab the rifle." Riggs ordered. "Time to go."

**********

Without a map they simply choose one to continue following the small stream that ran down the center of the cavern. Eric trailed shortly behind Major Riggs. They marched in silence. The only sounds were the scrape of their steps against the cave floor and the occasional drip or gurgle from the small stream.

"It was his comm. badge." Eric said, surprising himself that it was out loud.

Riggs turned and looked at Eric. "What?"

"That killed Hayes." Eric replied. "It was his comm. badge. His field jacket was open, the sun was low. A glint of light off the shiny metal would be seen for a long distance. Same thing for you, but with the pips of your rank."

Riggs opened his field jacket, pulled the pips off the collar of his shirt and the comm. badge off his chest and slipped them into his pants pocket. He turned back and started walking again.

An hour later they stopped to eat. Eric noticed that Major Riggs did not so much sit down as collapse into a sitting position.

"I wish I had fired sooner." Eric said. "She might still be alive if I had fired sooner."

"It's in the past. You did what you could. Second guessing won't bring her back." Riggs told him.

"That's it? It happened, move on."

Riggs shot daggers from his eyes. "What do you think I should do? Have a good cry? Have a wake for the departed here in the field? How does that help the living?"

"You could show some emotion at the death of your friends. You are human, aren't you?"

"I'm not their friend. I'm their commanding officer. I don't have the luxury of mourning in front of my troops when what they need is leadership and motivation. Would you have been able to make it up that ridge if Hayes hadn't provided encouragement or if you weren't trying to impress Loji? You were motivated by them, you drew strength from them. Who do you suppose they draw strength from?"

Eric didn't answer. He concentrated on eating his food. When they were done they packed up their gear. Riggs slung his pack on his back and stood up. Almost immediately he took two stumbling steps and fell back to the ground. Eris rushed to his side.

"Are you OK?" Eric asked.

"Just a little light headed. I'll be fine." Riggs assured him.

Eric looked at the soaked dressing on the marine's neck. "You're still bleeding."

"Yeah." The usual strength in Riggs voice was gone. "Could you help me up?"

Eric did. Riggs steadied himself on Eric's shoulder until he was sure of his balance. They began to walk again, this time side by side. Eric want to be there to catch the marine should he fall again.

"It hardly seems worth it." Eric said after a time. "Two people dead, just to blow up the control station."

"Four." Riggs corrected. "You didn't know Abrek or Darshan. Do you do your scientific research with such wild assumptions?"

"I had forgotten about the men shot outside the station. What assumptions have I made?"

"Our mission wasn't to blow up the control station. We have two starships in orbit. We could have called in a phaser strike at anytime and level the structure. Our mission was to extract civilians, destroying the station was a secondary objective."

"You mean all this is about me? Loji and Hayes and the others?"

"We had hoped to get the entire civilian staff out, but the horn toads had already taken out your colleagues."

"They tried to surrender. I ran to encrypt the main computer." Eric remembered. "Then you all came and died or were wounded, all because of me."

"It's our job, above all other things, to protect the lives and freedoms of Federation Citizens."

Eric felt shame or anger, he wasn't sure which. "I didn't ask--"

"Don't ask yourself if your life was worth theirs, it doesn't work that way." Riggs stopped him.

"How does it work?" Eric asked.

Riggs considered his answer. "Your research, to save the space lanes, would you die for your work?"

"I don't see how I could." Eric was confused.

"I'll take that as a 'no'." Riggs said. "The point is, Loji, Hayes, Abrek, Darshan, and me would die for our work. We know the risks of what we do and we take them on willingly. We volunteered, so don't go questioning the necessity of their sacrifice. They never would." Major Riggs was breathing hard. His steps were shallow and his feet dragged along the ground as he trudged forward. Eric caught him as his legs finally gave out.

Riggs gave a half smile as Eric eased him to the ground. "Guess my little lecture took a lot out of me." The strength had again left his usually commanding voice.

"Maybe we should use the tricorder. I could scan just for a few seconds." Eric suggested.

"No." Riggs shook his head. "It could lead them right to you. You've come too far. You need to get back above ground. Then turn on the tricoder. It can send out distress signals, set it to scrambler channel nine. I think we're close enough now, you should get help." Riggs was drifting away from consciousness.

"You talk like I'm going on alone." He said.

"I'll only slow you down now." Riggs could barely keep his eyes open.

Eric watched as the marine drifted the rest of the way into unconsciousness. He felt for a pulse on the Major's neck. It was weak, but still there. He made up his mind. "Loji told me there are only two ways to end this conflict, victory or surrender." Eric told the unconscious marine. "We're not giving up, do you hear me? Don't give up, you're going to complete your mission."

Riggs didn't respond.

Eric pulled the pack off of Major Riggs' back and poured out the contents into a pile on the ground. He pulled out the sleeping matt, a knife, and length of rope, discarding the rest. He took the sleeping matt and cut two holes in it where a person's shoulders would rest. He managed to roll Major Riggs onto the matt, and laced the straps of the empty pack through the holes and around Riggs' arms. He used the rope to harness the contraption to his own pack. He started walking again, dragging the unconscious marine behind him on the makeshift stretcher. He lost track of time and concentrated on putting on foot in front of the other. Eventually the walls of the cavern began to take on a golden hue. The pale green of his glow strip was being washed out by a more powerful light. Eric turned a corner. He had to squint and look away as his eyes were flooded with daylight in the distance. Once his eyes adjusted he could see the mouth of a cave, no more than fifty meters away.

**********

The personnel carrier landed and two marines jumped out with weapons drawn.

"Hands were I can see them!" The marine to the left ordered, aiming his phaser rifle directly at Eric's chest. "Name and rank."

Eric raised his hands. "I'm a civilian. I worked at the sensor control station. My name is Eric. You need to help Major Riggs." He motioned behind him.

"The carrier wave identified a Major Riggs as the distressed party. He was on a noncombatant extraction mission." The second marine confirmed.

The first marine lowered his rifle. "Get into personnel carrier, we'll get the Major."

"Wait." The second marine called. "The Major was leading a five man squad, is there anyone else?"

Eric shook his head. "It's just us."

**********

It was only a ten minute trip to the medical extraction point. The marines had given the Major an injection of tri-ox, and assured Eric that Riggs would be fine once the doctors had attended to him.

Riggs came to as they were lifting him out of the vehicle on a stretcher. "What's happened?"

"You completed you mission, Major." Eric told him.

The marines from the personnel carrier placed the stretcher in the receiving area then left in their vehicle. Eric sat down on the ground next to the Major.

"You completed my mission, Eric." Riggs corrected him. "You would make a good soldier."

Eric smiled. "Two days ago I wouldn't have taken that as a compliment."

Riggs looked Eric in the eye. "You have a selfless heart. I know Loji would be proud."


End file.
